On the issues...

I will fight to truly stabilize renter's rights by giving the New York City Council the authority to set rent guidelines. The city council is closer to our people and they should make the decisions. Lawmakers in Albany are too far removed from the challenges residents and small businesses face in our communities.  

I will fight to bring a state-of-the-art film and TV media industry to Harlem (similar to Tyler Perry's studios in Atlanta, GA). The U.S. media and entertainment (M&E) industry is the largest in the world, at $717 billion. It represents a third of the global M&E industry and is expected to reach more than $825 billion by 2023. (2018-2023 Entertainment & Media Outlook by PriceWaterhouseCoopers) (https://www.selectusa.gov/media-entertainment-industry-united-states). NYS film and television productions receiving $420 million in tax incentives generated $3.9 billion of economic activity and supported more than 48,000 jobs in 2017 alone.  (https://www.crainsnewyork.com/entertainment/majority-jobs-supported- film-tax-credit-are-nyc-report). By Roxanne Neilson, Exe. Dir. of Minority Business Development Business Center, NY. These facts support the idea that the Harlem community would benefit from the film and TV industry. 

Skills are the greatest determinant to increase wages. I will fight for paid, on-the-job training on all state funded infrastructure projects. Harlem residents can be trained to be skilled professionals capable of demanding real wages. I know this is possible because I am also an electrician. Every billion-dollar spent in New York City on public projects should train (at least) 1,080 residents to be skilled craftsmen.   

Development

I will fight irresponsible development and ensure that development actually benefits the Harlem community. Locals should not have to watch on the sidelines as others benefit and then be squeezed out of their neighborhoods. I worked tirelessly as Columbia University expanded their Manhattanville project. I helped Columbia fulfill its community benefits agreement with Harlem assuring hundreds of local craftsmen had the opportunity to apply to work on Columbia's expansion.

Dismantle the bias and unfair system of mass incarceration and end the school-to-prison pipeline. End for-profit prisons that encourage mass incarceration. Release individuals incarcerated for non-violent drug offences and have federal independent investigations for any and every time an individual is killed by law enforcement. Support the passing of the Fair Chance Act, H.R. 1076 that prohibits Federal agencies and Federal contractors from requesting that an applicant disclose criminal history record information before they received a conditional offer. Restore voting rights to the formerly incarcerated, implement fair and timely parole, end prison labor, have work where you live community policing, and end the 48-hr rule of police silence that prohibits NYPD officers from being interviewed immediately after being accused of a crime or misconduct. Initiate a constitutional convention to remove the Slavery Clause from the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.